An Approximate Analytical Method for Calculating Tides in the Atmosphere of Venus

Abstract

We describe a semianalytical method for calculating solar tides in an atmosphere whose zonal mean velocity need not be close to solid-body rotation, but which varies slowly in the vertical direction. The scheme is closely related to the asymptotic methods developed earlier by others for use in work on terrestrial equatorial waves, and leads to a simple and intuitively appealing formulation of the nonseparable tidal problem as a set of uncoupled ordinary differential equations. The manner in which the meridional structure of the mean state affects the vertical and horizontal tidal structure is especially transparent. The method has been used recently to explain a number of observed features of the Venus semidiurnal tide. The sensitivity of these tidal fields to the structure of the zonal mean wind is briefly discussed, and the Eliasson-Palm flux divergence calculated.